DDC4500SBM General Electric Dryer - Instructions

disassembled chassis of dryer, unbolted top, lifted top to expose drum. bolted top back on. resumed repair next morning. unbolted top. lifted drum (it moved up and down about 1 inch) and got new belt around it. rebolted top down. tipped dryer to its back. unbolted and removed panel at bottom, exposing drive motor and tensioner spring. positioned belt around drive motor spindle and tensioner spring. replaced panel. reconnected dryer to electricity. reconnected gas using new flexible connector.

inserted the latch into the opening in the front face of the dryer

Researching on the web I thought the trouble might be lint buildup or trouble w/ one of the parts involved in spinning the drum. However I cleaned out all the lint and replaced the belt and idler pulley and this didn't improve the smell (drum bearing was fine). I then concluded the trouble was the motor. Running the motor w/o the drum in place confirmed this was where the noise/smell was coming from. Replacing the motor was fiddly--I had to remove the clip holding the motor (pried the top w/ a screwdriver), wires (made a diagram so as to put back in same order, they were hard to get off--a pliers did the job), clamps holding the motor on the duct, the motor mount, the duct, the fan. Putting all this back together took a while (not hard just fiddly). Tested the motor w/out the drum in place and it sounded fine. Put the drum and back/front/top panels back and the dryer runs fine now. All parts came quickly and exactly matched the parts in my 1993 Hotpoint dryer. As others have said the pulley kit is not needed--these are included w/ the motor. BTW I am a 53-year-old lady. Thanks to all who took the time to write up their experiences--big help!!

Opened the door and removed 2 screws from inside/top of door. Removed top and then removed 2 screws from back of front panel. Lifted drum slightly to remove front panel and attached new slides.

Followed the Part Select video instructions which made the repair really easy!! Thanks for a job well done! ALSO.. the drum wobble was not caused by worn slides and felt. There are three screws holding the drum axle flange. Two of them fell out leaving the drum to flop about as it rotated. So we scavenged some screws from elsewhere on the dryer and problem solved. Once again.. thanks to Part Select for great instructional videos and great customer service ordering parts.